144 BOTTOM FISHING IN THE NOTTINGHAM STYLE. 



mil entice them back again (this holds good with either 

 worm or minnow fishing), or if you do entice them back 

 again it will be a couple of hours wasted, and the tish will 

 be shy and bite very gingerly. The most common plan of 

 taking perch is with the minnow, and this can be used in 

 several fashions. The most common method is with a single 

 minnow and float The float is a light cork one, and the 

 tackle is about four feet of medium gut, sufficiently weighted 

 with split shots. Don't have a great clumsy float, but one 

 of the lightest cork floats you can find. One that will carry 

 six or eight middle-sized split shots will serve, and the lowest 

 shot should be about a foot from the hook, which should be 

 about a No. 4 or 5. Some fasten the hook near to the back 

 fin, but I like to hook them through the lip. This bait 

 should be very near the bottom, and the float should travel 

 down the swim, something like traveller fishing for barbel 

 The minnow is a capital fellow to work about ; and if you 

 know a perch haunt by the side of a. row of bushes or a line 

 of flags, reeds, &c., the little fish will soon attract the atten- 

 tion of Mr. Perch. When the float bobs down with a perch 

 bite, don't strike at once, give him a few seconds, and let 

 him have a trifle of line ; and when you feel the quick tug, 

 tug, tug, which ensues, strike firmly, but don't hit him too 

 hard. The reason why you give him a few seconds is be- 

 cause the hook is at the lip of the minnow, and a perch 

 takes them by the tail, and he has the whole of the minnow 

 to get into his mouth before the hook can take effect ; at 

 least that is my impression. With this tackle you can use 

 worms, for some odd times he will not look at the minnow, 

 but will take a well-scoured worm. In swift boiling waters, 

 or in a rapid stream, in which very often the largest perch 

 are to be found, and where you cannot very well use a float, 

 then an arrangement that is called a paternoster is used. 

 This paternoster consists of about four feet of gut without 

 any split shots on it ; and at the bottom there is a plumb, or 

 heavy ledger, to keep the bait well down. Above this lead 

 there are two or three hooks on which the minnows are 

 impaled ; two will be sufficient. On the gut bottom, about 

 a foot from each other, two loops are tied the bottom one a 



